I was just getting back from a long day of classes and was about to enjoy a generous lunch when I received a message from my friend, Donny Tsunami.
"Your website's down, man."
I Immediately went to my website, PandaUnite.org, and sure enough, a "DNS Error" showed up.
I had seen something recently on my Facebook Timeline about a message for GoDaddy from Anonymous, so I immediately googled "Anonymous Godaddy hack."
It turns out, Anonymous was quick to accept responsibility for taking down not only GoDaddy but millions of websites hosted on its servers as well.
"I'm taking godaddy down bacause well i'd like to test how the cyber security is safe and for more reasons that i can not talk now " reads a tweet from @AnonymousOwn3r.
An Anonymous source clued me into their intentions.
This was a warning shot.
GoDaddy has been under fire before for supporting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill that would have extremely limited internet freedom and introduced unprecedented censorship. Even the noted entrepreneur and founder of ICanHazCheezeburger.com took GoDaddy to task for supporting SOPA:
"We will move our 1,000 domains off @GoDaddy unless you drop support of SOPA. We love you guys, but #SOPA-is-cancer to the Free Web."
The internet hosting company has also drawn the ire of civil liberties activists. On February 11th, 2008, visitors to RateMyCop.com received an "Oops!" image urging the owner of the site to contact GoDaddy on why they pulled the plug. When founder Gino Sesto inquired about why his site was down, GoDaddy said it was for "suspicious activity."
GoDaddy was down for almost an entire business day. Twitter was outraged as thousands of users attacked Anonymous for hurting everyone from small business owners to the activists they swore to protect.
However, there may have been a deeper motive. If a disruption of service for less than eight hours will make this big of a splash on the internet, as is the intent of recent cybersecurity legislation, imagine what a complete shutdown of the internet will do.
Interesting Addendum: Anonymous has also distanced itself from this hack via @AnonyOps
"Godaddy technician trips over ethernet cord, pulling it from edge router. Blames Anonymous."
Follow Dan Johnson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@PandaUnite
Edward J. Black: Internet Freedom in Democrat, Republican Platforms Is a Good Start
Anonymous and others like them/it have created the situation that brought SOPA into play. The government is not sitting around looking for ways to screw over the public, they are responding to what they perceive to be a threat to the public. (Responding poorly, but responding, none the less.) Honestly, you really need to get that paranoia of yours under control...
"Get up and do something"? What incredible arrogance! You know nothing about me, or what sort of activism I might engage in. Yet you assume (wrongly) that I sit on my hands and do nothing.
The government does (or tries to do) plenty of things that are wrongheaded and/or stupid - usually in response to the repeated actions of groups like Anonymous. And what "work" has this group "gotten done" exactly? Not one damn thing. Really, what have they accomplished? Have they brought to light any info that wasn't already in the public eye? No. Have they prevented one piece of bad legislation? No. Have they helped any group or individual overcome a problem? No. All they do is destroy stuff. They "say" they do it for the "public good", but I have yet to see anything good come out of their destruction.
That is completely false. The only difference between SOPA and laws that are currently on the books and being enforced right now is that SOPA would have allowed the government to hold advertising networks responsible for supporting FOREIGN (non-US) Websites that violate intellecual property rights.
Alas Anon again. Average user shafted in the middle. Choose which elite will control your access because without a doubt it will be an elite usurping your freedom either way you choose, either way you vote, whatever they call themselves.
Anonymous destroys things - pure and simple. They can claim they are doing it "for the public good", but they are really just doing it "because they can". Anonymous (and their supporters) claim a lot of things. Yet we have seen no evidence to back up any of those claims. Well, claiming something doesn't make it so - no matter how loud you shout or how often you shout it.
"Anonymous" doesn't "protect" anyone.
How does posting my credit card info "protect" someone?
How does shutting down my web site "protect" anyone?
Btw anonymous: Get Mitt to pay $1 million and then release his taxes anyway!